The Infinity Above
by Mochizuki Yuuya
Summary: Training has been a load of stress on almost everyone's minds. Eren can't seem to get any sleep tonight. Maybe some fresh air outside and a look at the endless sky could help? If only he had a friend to teach him about the stars. Maybe the sky and the ocean that they promised they would reach together isn't as far away as they thought it was. Eremin, One-shot


The Infinity Above

It was the night time, the time when all of the citizens and soldiers alike were all rested or curled up in bed to sleep away from the next day. I tried to sleep, I couldn't just as easily as all of them could. My head really hurt. During our training today we were working more on balancing on the special gear. I hadn't gotten it at first, sure it was only the second day but I still wasn't getting the hang of it. I had fallen straight down and onto my head, I think I have a big bump there now. I had to for a few seconds eventually, and almost a whole minute at one point. But not enough, I couldn't stay on it at all.

I couldn't stay asleep no matter what I did, my head throbbed. I hope that I can get it tomorrow, or at least that I do better than I did today. I want to be strong and get better at things like this, so I could make my goal a reality, and so I wouldn't get left behind with all of these jerks and selfish trainees that were just here for luxury. Ahem, if you know who I am talking about. I stayed in my bed for some more time until I couldn't anymore. I checked around me to make sure that everyone was asleep, nobody would notice if I left for a minute or two if they were all asleep.

I slowly slipped out of my bed and the blanket on it, as well as gently stepping down to the ground. I was slow and careful as I walked to the door. My bed was pretty close to that door so I guess I was a little lucky for that, I didn't want the walk from the bed to the door and back later to be that suspenseful…

I opened the door, which was a little creaky. But it opened without anyone noticing, or at least I don't think that anyone noticed. This was an active day, so if anyone could get to sleep I would guess that they would surely stay asleep. I think I'm safe. I just need a quick breath of the fresh air, then I'll surely get back to my bed and to sleep. Hopefully this will clear my mind of today or my head. I would get some quick air then head back in at least five minutes, so nobody could notice. I really didn't want anyone noticing.

I finally got outside and out of that dark room. At least it smelled fresh and cleaner out here, also sort of like some of the burning wood from the torches around that were set up. It was refreshing, to say the least. I haven't had much time to see the outside without running through it or trying to train in it in well- probably since I was little, when I could sit by the lake with Armin and Mikasa. I wish that I could go back to that place, but I know it is much different now. If it is still even there at all. Infested. Destroyed. Bloodied…

But that's why I have to train and improve myself, so I can defeat those heartless monsters. I can get back the land that humanity lost. I can save the places that people remember, like where Mikasa and I's house used to be. Or that lake, I would save it for Armin. That's where we usually read from the old book we had. I wonder if that book is still there, or if it was destroyed by now. Probably both, maybe pieces were still around. That book…

I tried to stop my thinking and sighed. I get why I wasn't supposed to come out here. It was pretty cold. I was a future scout though, something like cold doesn't mean anything to me. I am stronger than that.

How long have I been out here, anyway? It seems like a while, I should head back inside. I think I will, it would be horrible if I was tired for tomorrow because I stayed up all night out here thinking about things like that… That surely wouldn't help me balance on Three Dimensional Maneuver gear either, but I think more sleep surely would. Okay. I'm going back to bed.

I turned around to do nothing more but bump into something. Or somebody, that would be more accurate to say. I thought that I was good at being quiet, but I guess that I was wrong. I looked up and saw that I knocked him off his feet. It must have been Jean, that selfish weakling. I looked down and saw who was actually there rubbing his forehead. I was wrong.

"O-oh, sorry, Armin…"

I put out a hand to help him up. He took it and lifted himself to his feet, he also gave me a smile. It looked sheepish, or maybe even embarrassed. "H-hey, Eren. It's okay, don't worry about it." He chuckled and wiped off the back of his pants.

"What are you doing out here so late, Armin?"

"I think I should ask you first, I came out here to see where you were going..."

"Oh." He was such a caring person, just coming out here to see me and see if I was okay. While he knew well that he would need as much sleep as he could get for tomorrow. I was proud to have him as my friend. "I just came out here for some fresh air. I couldn't really sleep…"

"Are you okay? Usually you're a really fast sleeper and would have no problem."

"Yeah, my head hurts from when I crashed into the ground though…" I had just forgotten, too. But I guess that it's better than trying to tell myself it was not there at all. I was never a good liar anyway.

"This balancing is pretty hard, isn't it..?"

"Yes, it really is. I don't understand if there is some trick to it or what I am supposed to do…"

"Don't be like that, I think that it will get much easier once you get the hang of it, right, Eren?

I felt myself smile just a little bit. He could tell that was a yes because he smiled even more and chuckled a small bit, like he was happy with the answer. Or just that he was happy with something else entirely… I really couldn't tell. Other than that, it was nice to know that he really thought so. I am glad that someone believes me that I can do it, I know that Armin would always be there to help me out in times like this. I didn't want to be protected, I wanted to grow to have the strength to protect people. It seems like Mikasa is always trying to protect me…

The conversation slowly died off after that, I saw that we stared at each other for a few seconds. I hoped that my smile was good enough to stare at, though I think it was. After that I saw that Armin turned his eyes to look up, at the dark sky all around and above us. It was nice to be able to see the sky without it flying by, to just take a moment to look at it. I could see the millions of stars everywhere. I think that Armin tries to teach me one of the constellations once. I have no clue what it was. It had a story behind it though, he even admitted to me that he didn't know the story though.

That was a great day, I can't seem to remember the constellation, but I remember clearly the story we made up.

_It started with a little boy, he was a small boy with blonde hair and big blue eyes, as well as a button nose. He was going to go on an adventure to the big ocean. He was only little though and he didn't know how to protect himself very good. He packed his things as well as a big map, which told his easily how to get there. He followed the map and walked for many days and nights. Until he got really tired and had to sleep for a night. During that night, a few mean thieves came and stole his important map. _

_When the little boy woke up the next day he was so worried and surprised, because he had no clue where to go now and he was lost. But he still tried to get to the ocean, he wasn't going to give up yet. He eventually found a big town. He went around asking for what direction the ocean was in and everyone told him that he wouldn't ever find it, so he should just stop looking. After three days of being told the same thing, he finally decided that he would give up, since nobody would help him. _

_The little boy was about to leave the village and try to go back home, but then another kid stopped him. The new kid was taller than the little boy, he had brown hair and teal eyes. The newer kid told the little boy that he would help him find the ocean and that they would find it together!_

_The two went on from there, they didn't ask around about it anymore since everyone thought they were crazy or troublemakers and they would never find the ocean. They went on their adventure and tried to find it, the ocean…_

To be honest I don't remember the rest... It had something to do with the two meeting a small girl with black hair and then finding the burglars again. I believe that the girl then knocked all of the seven burglars so hard they all went flying to the stars and then stayed there. The three took back their map and ended up finding the ocean at last.

Don't tell me it's ridiculous or unrealistic, we were about seven when we first made that up. Maybe a little older. We even planned to make it into a book someday. But neither of us knew how to write. We decided that we would just make it a picture book after that. We actually did make the first seven pages, but then some pathetic bullies threw the book into the river. It was horrible. Mikasa beat them up hard enough to where they probably were running home screaming for their moms. I didn't fight with her that time though, I was trying to help out Armin. He was really sad when the book got destroyed. I was really sad too though.

"Hey, do you remember the constellation we made up that one day? That one?" I could see it now, it was high in the sky. It was hard to see next to all the stars but I could still see it!

"Oh, yes!" He nodded.

"Do you remember the story that we made up about it, Armin?"

He smiled at me "Yes! The one about finding the ocean, wasn't it…?" He looked up at all of the stars, I did the same. They were all amazing. So many stories and adventures that were probably up there.

"Yes. That's the one."

He stayed quiet for some time after that. We both looked at the stars, they were just amazing to see. They seemed like one of the only things that weren't trapped here, they were only visible at certain times of the year. I remember out of the book that we would always read or look at. It had a chapter about the stars of the sky. The sky's stars are all moving and traveling around the sky, all the time. It must be nice to be that free, right?

"The sky and the stars are so amazing. Stars are always orbiting or moving around, some of them might even have other planets or places around them too, just like our sun does! Isn't that cool, Eren?"

"It's amazing, it almost feels like I am looking at the ocean or another one of the startling things outside the walls."

Armin nodded and I could see that he smiled once again from the corner of his eye. He then pointed up high in the sky, to something new. It was a red dot, it looked. He must have been able to tell what I was thinking because of my face, or maybe he just knew me well. Because he said in a happy tone: "That isn't a star though."

"Really, what else is up there?" I asked and kept looking at the red dot. It looked like a star, but differently colored. And it didn't seem to twinkle like the millions of other stars. Armin seemed really excited about it, I was starting to get excited too.

"That's a planet, like ours!" Really?

"There are other planets…? Really? How?"

"Well, our sun is really big, so there are a lot of things spinning around it! Earth just happens to be one of them! There are other planets too! That red one, that's a planet! I know that there are eight total!"

"Really? What are the other planets like?"

"Well, I know that there is one closer to the sun, I don't know the name but it's covered completely in volcanoes and it's always so hot that nothing could ever live on it. It's not that one though. That's the one covered in sand, that's why it's so red."

"What are the others like? You said there were eight."

"Well. The one furthest away from us is really blue. The next furthest is blue too. Then there is a big planet that has rings around it!"

"Rings? How does it do that?"

"Well, it is really strong so it pulls rocks close to it and then they spin around it really fast, it makes it look like it has rings!"

"Wow…"

"Then there is a really large planet, I don't think we can see it though. It is the biggest planet of all of them. It could fit earth inside of it over a thousand times!"

"What?! No, planets can't be that big, that's impossible."

"No it isn't."

"You're really smart."

"Thank you, you're smart too!"

We stayed like that for a few more minutes, smiling back at each other. I learned about the stars and the planets today. I'll remember that forever, or at least I will try my hardest too. I noticed that Armin yawned after our conversation. I did say I was only going out for a minute to get fresh air. We should go back to sleep.

"C'mon, Armin. We need to rest up for tomorrow." I started walking back to the room.

"Okay, Eren. And thank you!"

Huh? I turned around to see him smiling like he had since we started talking, I didn't see him smile as much during training or other things. I was very confused. "Thank me? For what?"

"For being my friend, thank you!"

"Oh, no problem, thank you for being mine, Armin!"

We went back to the room after that. I was proud of knowing more about the sky above now, and that I was able to speak with Armin again. We hadn't gotten to since we came to the military. I was happy to be able to see the sky like it was amazing now, because it was. It was like the ocean, an uncaged and free place that spread as far as it wanted and always was there, no matter what happened on the earth below it. There were even planets out there. Planets where there could even be other creatures. Maybe it wasn't an ocean of water, or an endless field of grass, but it was a big sky full of stars.

The sky was just like an ocean, wasn't it?


End file.
